Next Up: Transplant

Well I almost started this entry off with 'I'm baaaack', but felt that was an extremely inappropriate way to title it. So you all get it in the first sentence instead. :)

The reason I'm posting is we had an eventful day today to say the least. I had been contacted by Beth Harvey (the Transplant Coordinator) earlier in the week targeting a conference call for today. I can honestly say I thought there would be an update about the timing of the transplant along with the transplant itself. Then she calls and emails this morning asking if I can chat a little earlier. What I didn't expect was how SOON. As a sidenote, neither did the Financial resource I'm working with who had spoken with Beth earlier today.

I can say that we didn't really mince words. She started off the call with saying that Mom had a clearer CT scan, and the doctors wanted to start a transplant. To say the least, Mom was right in how she expected it to go down. The rest of the call was discussing details as there are many. I'm sure there are more we'll learn about over the next few days. But I'll do my best to relay the information here:

Transplant Type
Instead of the standard transplant, they are going with a reduced intensity transplant or a 'mini-transplant' as Abhyankar calls it. This means instead of intense chemotherapy / in-patient care like the first phase, there will be a slimmed down version. If you remember way back when, Dr. Ganguly had said Mom had chemo at the intensity of 5 last time and they expected a 10 now.

This decision was made in order to mitigate the risk of the fungal pneumonia getting out of control. Rather than taking the WBCs all the way to 0, they will take them way down without zeroing. The expectation is that Walt's stem cells will then 'take over' and squash out Mom's remaining cells.

Transplants of this nature are just as successful as the traditional ones. But they are done via outpatient procedures (more below). The big risk is if something goes awry we are forced to go back to the intense chemo, meaning the ups and downs (hopefully not the ICU this time) of the pneumonia are likely to return. So let's all hope and pray that does not happen.

Process
So how does this all work? They expect to start next week with both Mom and Walt.

Walt will undergo one last physical evaluation that includes an EKG and other tests. Assuming nothing unexpected is found (Beth says that's only happened 1 time and it was someone who had literally never been to the dentist in their life), he will start Neupogen doses to boost his stem cells. Then they extract them for transplant.

Mom will begin treatment one day next week where they will give her the chemo, a few days of treatment, and 1-day of radiation. They say the infusion of stem cells (and therefore the actual transplant) would begin that day.

From there, there are a few drugs which I'll list in a later post that she'll take. And they'll do biopsies and tests until they confirm all that is left is male DNA. Beth was funny. She immediately clarified Mom would still look and act like the 'sweet Cathi we all know.' Needless to say everyone treating Mom has been touched by her amazing attitude and strength.

Between now and then
This weekend will be the 'Light the Night' walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, family time, and overall mental / physical preparation for the weeks ahead. We are extremely happy and proud Mom once again has cleared a hurdle to get to this point. Now let's all root her through the next phase!

I'm also apologizing in advance for anything I may correct later as my notes are at my office and this was all off the top of my head. :)